When you think of successful women in advertising, the first person that comes to the mind of anyone who knows anything about advertising is Carol H. Williams. A product of Chicago’s South Side Bronzeville and South Shore communities, Carol attended Grant Memorial AME Church in Chicago’s Bronzeville community, and she graduated from Hyde Park High School. Carol first came into advertising when advertising was an “ol boy’s” industry, and less than one percent of advertising professionals were Black. Advertising pioneer, Bill Sharp, decided to do something about that discrepancy by founding the Basic Advertising Class (BAC). The eight-week class, co-spon-sored by the 4A’s, (American Association of Advertising Agencies) and Northwestern University, taught advertising basics to  minorities. Too late to get into the first class, Bill Sharp allowed Carol to audit the class, in which she became not only the top achiever but also one of the first to land a job with Leo Burnett USA, which at that time was the largest advertising agency in the world.
The BAC held five classes in its lifetime. I was fortunate enough to be enrolled in the final class. When I arrived in the class, which was held in a conference room of the Leo Burnett agency, I saw this elegant Black woman who looked to be my age, or probably younger, sitting, not behind the table, but on the table. I was fascinated by the way she explained the art of conceptualizing and thinking visually in order to develop solid ideas that had “legs” as opposed to coming up with executions in search of a concept. In church, you often hear the parishioners saying “make it plain, Preacher.” She made it plain.
After I finished the class, I didn’t want to work any place but Leo Burnett, and that’s where I landed – in Carol’s group. There I watched her work her magic. When Secret Antiperspirant was having problems because they were marketed as a woman’s antiperspirant, and to the consumer that signified a weakness – Carol developed the campaign, “Strong Enough for a Man, but Made for a Woman.” Sales soared.
Carol had the unique ability to take plain language and make a powerful statement. When Pillsbury came up with a cornbread mix, and creative heads were agonizing over a selling line, Carol simply said, “Just shove it in the oven and bake.” The Executive Creative Director, never one to hide his emotions, pounded on the table. “That’s it! That’s it!” he exclaimed. The account people thought it was pure genius. The client loved it, and Pillsbury’s new corn-bread mix literally flew off the shelves.
Carol wasn’t even 30 years old when she was named Advertising Woman of the Year. Never one to keep her vast wisdom to herself, her speech was so inspiring that before we could get back to the office good, people were calling for copies. The Sun Times printed a transcript of her speech.
Although she was the first woman to become a vice president and creative director at Leo Burnett, and the only Black woman in the creative department before she hired me, Carol brought her Black brothers and sisters along whenever she could. In those days the white advertisers expected nothing more than white talent in their commercials. Carol brought the first Black voice-over talent, the first Black musicians, and the first Black producers to the ad business via Burnett. One young Black woman by the name of Daphne Maxwell learned voice-over un-der the tutorage of Ms. Williams and armed with her new talent, went to Hollywood, married Tim Reid, and the rest is history.
Carol is one of the few women I know who doesn’t think a woman has to be mean and rude in order to be a boss. Over the years, the people who have worked with Carol have come to love her and are willing to go that extra mile to please her – even when sometimes it meant working until 10 pm or later.
Carol eventually left Burnett and moved to Oakland, California where she married the most prominent orthopedic doctor in Oakland, and eventually started her own agency – Carol H. Williams and Associates. She talks about how she started her agency at the kitchen table – but she swiftly outgrew the kitchen and now Carol H. Williams and Associates is the largest 100% Black-owned advertising agency in the country, with offices in Oakland, Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. During this time she also gave birth to a beautiful daughter, who inherited Carol’s writing talent.